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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27079624">A Holiday In Derdriu</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silky_John/pseuds/Silky_John'>Silky_John</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>An fe3h modern au that no one asked for (by Silky_John) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friendship, M/M, Mentioned Caspar von Bergliez, Mentioned Linhardt von Hevring, Mentioned Marianne von Edmund, Mentioned Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius, Pre-Slash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 01:47:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,774</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27079624</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silky_John/pseuds/Silky_John</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lambert Egitte Blaiddyd is a busy man, and like any busy man, he's tired. Hopefully a trip to Derdriu with his family will fix that.</p>
<p>Or:</p>
<p>Lambert takes his kids on a holiday trip and Dimitri has the pleasure of making a friend known as Claude while Hilda and Edelgard play third and fourth wheel.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd &amp; Claude von Riegan, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd &amp; Edelgard von Hresvelg, Hilda Valentine Goneril &amp; Claude von Riegan, Hilda Valentine Goneril &amp; Edelgard von Hresvelg, Lambert Egitte Blaiddyd &amp; Rodrigue Achille Fraldarius, Lambert Egitte Blaiddyd/Patricia</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>An fe3h modern au that no one asked for (by Silky_John) [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1976383</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Holiday In Derdriu</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey, here's my first piece for this fandom.</p>
<p>I read a lot from the fe3h fandom, so it's finally time I contributed to it.</p>
<p>The kids are 13 and below (which is why they're called kids) and life is going pretty okay for them.</p>
<p>Everything else I have to say will be in the notes at the end.</p>
<p>I'll link my twitter there.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lambert is constantly amazed by how his life has turned out so far.</p>
<p>He never thought that he'd take the helm of one of the biggest companies in Fòdlan, or that he'd get married and have a son. That he and his child would survive the pandemic that killed his first wife.</p>
<p>He never believed that he'd get to see one of the greatest power in the south fall apart, or that he'd remarry as the economy around him took a dip. That he would experience the joy of parenting a daughter.</p>
<p>He never dreamed that he'd make friends like Fraldarius, Galatea and Gautier; friends that walked through all of it with him, that he could trust to continue walking beside him.</p>
<p>Lambert never knew that life could be so draining, yet so fulfilling. </p>
<p>***</p>
<p>It's an especially bitter winter in Faerghus and the close of the financial year is sapping away all of Lambert's energy.</p>
<p>He's sitting in his office at the heart of Fhirdiad, looking out of the window at the snow falling over the city skyline and wondering how to account for the disappointing returns from the investments in Duscur.</p>
<p>Patricia has gone down to a hot spring resort near Ailell with Cornelia ("The weather is warmer there, Lambert. You really should come.") </p>
<p>He'd declined, something he's now coming to regret.</p>
<p>Something about "warmer" had struck a chord within him.</p>
<p>"Somewhere warmer, huh..." he says to himself, no longer paying attention to the papers in front of him. </p>
<p>It's been a long time since he's been out of Fhirdiad for anything non-business, Patricia has left Edelgard behind, Dimitri's never been out of Faerghus before, and Rodrigue could take over things, and–</p>
<p>These are the excuses running through Lambert's mind as he buys three travel tickets, files the papers on his desk, and phones Rodrigue.</p>
<p>Lambert prays to the goddess that the blizzard stops, at least long enough for the scheduled flight to actually take off.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Lambert smiles as he looks out of the plane window and onto the Derdriu streets. It's the off season, but Derdriu's winter is nowhere near as cold as Faerghus's. They could be two separate realities, for all Lambert knows.</p>
<p>Rodrigue has taken over things at the office ("And if you call me about business, the first thing I'll do when you get back is punch you.").</p>
<p>He turns to look at the children, and smiles when he sees their faces practically pressed against the window.</p>
<p>"The aquatic capital..." Edelgard whispers, wonder colouring her tone. </p>
<p>Dimitri's mouth simply hangs open in awe.</p>
<p>The plane eventually lands, and Edelgard holds Dimitri's hand when the motion makes a look of nausea pass over his face.</p>
<p>"Come on guys," Lambert says excitedly when they finally exit the airport, "Let's get to the hotel."</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>They arrive at their hotel, the Derdriu Palm Resort, at about noon.</p>
<p>It sits in front of the most pristine stretch of beach Lambert has ever had the pleasure of seeing (not like the rocky beaches of Faerghus were much to compare to).</p>
<p>After taking everything to the rooms and changing into more casual wear, he and the kids go down to the water.</p>
<p>The waterfront isn't too empty, because even if it's the off season, Derdriu still averaging 20⁰C.</p>
<p>Since there are no crowds, Lambert let's Edelgard and Dimitri wander around a bit further than he usually would ("You're too protective," Gautier always tells him).</p>
<p>"Make sure to have fun," Lambert tells them, "but don't do anything I wouldn't do."</p>
<p>He looks at the children as they run off excitedly, and closes his eyes once they're too far for his him to properly see.</p>
<p>Relaxation washes over Lambert as he closes his eyes and basks. This is just what he needs.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Edelgard watches as Dimitriband the dark-haired, dark-skinned boy laugh from where they are on the ground.</p>
<p>Dimitri and the boy ("Claude," he'd said) had bumped into each other and knocked each other over.</p>
<p>"Hilda," Claude had said, pointing at the girl next to him.</p>
<p>Edelgard is now seated in the sand, right next to the pink-haired girl.</p>
<p>"So, what's your name?" Hilda asks after a few minutes of awkwardly watching Claude and Dimitri exclude them from whatever it was they were doing (apologising to each other and over; how strange).</p>
<p>"Edelgard," she says simply.</p>
<p>"Well, Ed–can I call you Ed?" Hilda asks, but doesn't wait for a response, "Do you want to go do something else? Doesn't look like they're going to ask us to play with them."</p>
<p>Edelgard looks back at Dimitri and watches the way his face flushes with excitement as Claude shows him something in the sand.</p>
<p>Edelgard shrugs. "Let's go build a castle."</p>
<p>Edelgard waits for Hilda to pick her pink pail and shovel, and then they start off across the beach.</p>
<p>She laughs silently to herself when she turns around and sees Dimitri flailing his arms and Claude's green eyes tearing from the laughter.</p>
<p>She'd pester Dimitri about it later.</p>
<p><br/>
***</p>
<p>Dimitri scoops sand out of the ground as Claude tells him about what Derdriu's bazaars are like.</p>
<p>He never thought he'd meet someone his age here, and especially not someone this interesting.</p>
<p>"You're pretty strong," says Claude in wonder, watching as Dimitri excavates the sand with ease, "I'd be pretty tired doing even half of what you've done."</p>
<p>Dimitri stops and smiles. "My father said that it's something about my genes."</p>
<p>'J-E-A-N-S', Dimitri spells out in the sand.</p>
<p>"Genes?" Claude asks. 'G-E-N-E-S', he writes in the sand, right next to where Dimitri had tried to spell the word.</p>
<p>Dimitri flushes and Claude smiles kindly (and a bit teasingly) at him. He'd never been particularly at spelling.</p>
<p>"Yeah," he says after clearing his throat, "he said that the King of Lions was my great-great-great-grandfather."</p>
<p>Claude laughs gently, and Dimitri smiles. His laugh sounds very nice.</p>
<p>"I think that you haven't put enough 'greats'," Claude tells him.</p>
<p>Dimitri laughs silently, and then they fall into a comfortable silence. He doesn't know what shape the sand mound he had been digging was meant to take, but he was now bored with it.</p>
<p>"Would you like to come swimming with me?" Dimitri asks eventually.</p>
<p>"No, it's too cold for that. I can watch you though," Claude says, standing and dusting off his shorts.</p>
<p>They start heading towards the ocean.</p>
<p>"Cold?" Dimitri asks, because cold doesn't even begin to describe this place. It's incredibly warm, compared to Faerghus, and he's thankful he put on his sunscreen and carried a hat like his father had told him to.</p>
<p>"Yes, it gets much hotter in summer. No sunscreen can save you from getting a sunburn then," Claude tells him, his green eyes sparkling with amusement, "Have you ever had sunburn before?"</p>
<p>"No... Is it really as painful as people say it is?" Dimitri asks, because his Glenn had told him that it was torture to put on clothes once one got sunburnt.</p>
<p>"I don't get sunburns, but Hilda tells me that the feeling is torture. You can ask her," Claude says, laughing.</p>
<p>Dimitri laughs as well. Claude's laugh is infectious.</p>
<p>He didn't get to travel outside of Faerghus much, but if travelling was all it took to meet fun people like Claude, he'd ask his father if they could do it more often.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Hilda smiles as she digs the castle moat. She hasn't known Claude very long–she'd only met him in the summer–but it's nice to see him smiling so brightly.</p>
<p>Whoever this Dimitri boy is, he's making Claude happy.</p>
<p>After staring for too long, even by her standards, she turns back to look at Edelgard and holds back a sigh.</p>
<p>It's not that Edelgard is boring, it's just that she's too... different. </p>
<p>Hilda doesn't dislike talking to Ed, but she'd much rather be talking to Mr. Edmund's daughter, or to the two strange boys she'd met in the hallways the other day, Custard and... Linda?</p>
<p>(Caspar and Linhardt. Hilda wasn't one to forget names or faces.)</p>
<p>"I'm bored," Edelgard eventually says. Wow. Even Hilda's father isn't this blunt.</p>
<p>Hilda finally let's out the long sigh she'd been trying to hold back. "Me too."</p>
<p>"Maybe if we have to sit with each other again we can do something interesting..." Edelgard says.</p>
<p>"Like play Ludo."</p>
<p>"Or Uno."</p>
<p>They smile at each other. </p>
<p>'Huh, maybe this isn't so bad,' Hilda thinks to herself.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Claude feels like he was making a fool of himself in front of Dimitri, but talking to him just feels so... easy.</p>
<p>Things that had taken a few days to open up to Hilda about, Claude had told Dimitri in a single afternoon.</p>
<p>Dimitri is still trying to convince Claude to enter the water with him, and though he appreciates the effort, the water is just too cold for an Almyran like him.</p>
<p>"I come from a desert country, that's why I'd feel cold in the water," he wants to tell Dimitri, but that would be too much. That's not the kind of information Claude can trust anyone with.</p>
<p>At some point, Dimitri stops splashing around and looks further ashore. Claude looks back as well, and he sees Hilda and Edelgard walking towards them over the sand.</p>
<p>They're both smiling. Huh. Claude hadn't expected them to form any kind of friendship, especially in a day. They were, in his eyes, a bit too different.</p>
<p>Maybe he needs to put more work into his people skills.</p>
<p>"We'd better get going," Edelgard tells Dimitri.</p>
<p>Dimitri walks slowly through the water and onto the shore. It could be wishful thinking, but he looks reluctant to leave.</p>
<p>Dimitri holds out his hand to Claude, probably for a handshake.</p>
<p>Very prim, very proper, extremely Dimitri, and not what Claude wants in that moment.</p>
<p>Claude takes great pleasure in the flustered sound Dimitri makes when he grabs his hand and pulls him in for a half-hug.</p>
<p>"Do you want to play again tomorrow?" Dimitri asks once Claude unwraps his arm from around him.</p>
<p>"Sure," he says, smiling.</p>
<p>He smiles back, then quickly walks to Edelgard's side. They walk of towards a blond man sitting in a deck chair, who Claude assumed is their father.</p>
<p>"We should get going, Claude. My brother might die from worry." Hilda takes his hand and guides him back to the hotel.</p>
<p>As he and Hilda head towards the lobby, Claude silently wishes that Dimitri will be at the resort as long as he and his grandfather will.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>Why is he smiling like that?" Lambert whispers to Edelgard. They're both looking at the small smile on Dimitri's face.</p>
<p>Edelgard smiles. "He made a friend."</p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <em>
      <strong>END.</strong>
    </em>
  </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Dimitri, Claude, Hilda, and Edelgard keep meeting each other for a week.</p>
<p>Claude and Edelgard alternate turns at winning uno until Hilda shows her true strength.</p>
<p>They eat icecream, Dimitri promises to see Claude again (but they don't exchange contact info, how silly)</p>
<p>Everything goes to crap when Lambert and Patricia are killed and Glenn dies and Miklan is kicked out, etc... </p>
<p>A modernized progression of events, if you will.</p>
<p>***</p>
<p>This work will be part of a bigger collection of things I have sitting in my drafts; things I'd love to share with you guys.</p>
<p>If you enjoyed it, please leave kudos, and if you spotted a mistake, please tell me about it.</p>
<p>Come <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesDo86705394?s=09">HERE.</a> if you want to find me.</p>
<p>I post fan art and random thoughts there.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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